Week 6 Post 2-Introduction to the Bioethics of CRISPR

 CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a biotechnology that has huge implications for the world and the future and there are many ethical questions about the morality of this science. CRISPR has the ability to edit genes, take out an area of genetic code and replace it with a new set of code. These sequences that are changed out code for human's traits and abilities, so essentially CRISPR, if it is effective, can be utilized in infinite ways to change all types of organisms, not just humans. This could be an incredibly amazing technology because it could have the ability to eradicate disease, fix genetic disorders, and possibly make people live longer. It could also help offset some of the ecosystem problems created by human's involvement in the environment, which is contributing to climate change. Another use for CRISPR is an idea of a Gene Drive, which would be a variation of CRISPR where the technology to be able to change the genes would be meshed with the actual gene itself so when the organism reproduced whatever changes were made would also be implemented, always into their offspring. This technology was being considered in New Zealand to help combat their rodent  problem and potentially exterminate all rats on their islands. CRISPR Gene Drive was not used ultimately because, while there are many benefits to this technology there also many potential downsides. One ethical concern is that of the future, asking where does society draw the line as to when CRISPR cannot be used. This is one of the larger moral problems with CRISPR, as many are concerned it can open up a "Pandora's  Box" to reveal the worst side of humanity and its interests. CRISPR could be utilized by governments or rouge individuals to commit acts of bio-terrorism that could kill or devastate millions. There is also concern about the results if people are able to genetically engineer themselves to however they want, since currently the price to do so would be enormous, making it only possible for the wealthy, which could create a "master race" of advanced humans that is only achievable to the rich, exacerbating the world's already huge class problem. There is also a fear that this technology could be used for eugenics, where the group of individuals in power decides which types of people are allowed to be "created" by CRISPR, or if certain groups can even continue on. This idea is scary to a lot of scientists as the scientific community has often played a large role in the attempted execution of eugenics. There also many concerns about it ethicality and effectiveness, as CRISPR would be used currently. There are many companies which have developed gene therapies that can treat once incurable genetic and heritable diseases, but they price the treatment at innumerably high rates, which are often not covered by insurance. This again perpetuates the class, and often race disparities in the United States, where some people are able to afford treatment and others are not, and continue to suffer. Another problem with CRISPR, is that gene editing tools are very prone to error, so if the edited gene is spread into a community or ecosystem and then started to not work, or cause harm to the recipients it could have disastrous impacts, such as food supplies being wiped out, and even death of entire ecosystems, as one link in the food chain being destroyed could create a trophic cascade. There are a few ways that CRISPR technology is trying to be implemented in the most ethical ways, such as getting community consent and spreading CRISPR to everyone. Most research scientists, before they can put a genetically engineered organism into an ecosystem they must get the consent of the community the change will impact. However, there is often infighting between community members about the right choice to make and never is every single community member happy with adding the modified organisms. There is also often cultural beliefs that prevent a community from wanting to implement these changes. Other bioethicists argue that it is unknown if CRISPR will just impact the ecosystem that is targeted or if it will impact the entire world, so to have a totally ethical implementation there would have to be consent from the whole world, and that implementation without consent is tyrannically imposing a new life changing thing into the a person's life without giving them a choice. Another way people are trying to ethically implement CRISPR is by making it accessible to everyone, not just scientists, because often poorer people do not have the resources to utilize CRISPR in a traditional sense. People who try to use CRISPR on themselves, biohackers, argue that this would help mediate the problems caused by how expensive CRISPR is for the common person to currently access. However, this again raises concerns about when will individuals stop enhancements, and what nefarious uses could people use the technology for if it was accessible to everyone. 

   Learning about the different bioethical concerns is important when studying bioethics because this topic is the most current and pressing issue in the bioethics world today, because the technology is moving so fast and there is very little regulation around it. These concerns and point are important to my thesis because they illustrate the importance of caution when utilizing CRISPR, which is what my thesis is. The outcomes of the ethical decision the world makes around CRISPR is going to have pressing consequences either way, so it is important to be informed on both sides before forming an opinion.